Kuzul

The Miami Marlins—and just about every team—have been really quiet during the Hot Stove season. There has been loads of sizzle, but not enough to bring out and chew on just yet. The Marlins are the lone team expected to deliver on being the winner of the Hot Stove season. They've wined and dined a handful of free agents, which include Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle (although he skipped that and just toured the new ballpark) and most recently, CJ Wilson, who is expected to visit the Marlins brass during Thanksgiving weekend. The market for the areas of need (starting pitching, third base and center field) is scarce, and thus, I expect the Marlins to pull off some trades to fill the voids. Already, the team has engaged in trade talks with the Oakland A's regarding ace southpaw Gio Gonzalez and has expressed interest in the Rays' James Shields. With the peak ...

The Florida Marlins (or Miami Marlins as they will be next season) have traditionally been a poor fielding team. Simply put, they've had to pinch pennies wherever possible and fielding became one of those areas they were willing to sacrifice. Even their stars were subpar defenders. Heck, their double play combination, until this season, was arguably the worst double play combination in baseball. When Mike Jacobs was the first baseman, their Tinkers to Evers to Chance was known as the happy lexicon. Some of that changed this season, but the team lost Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson for good parts of the season. Then, there was the Logan Morrison and Wes Helms controversy in the middle of the season. Helms was cut and Morrison sent down to the minors. Sending down the player second on the team in OPS was a hard sell to the media. Still, the club moves into ...

With a young team, a pair of superstars and a new stadium set to open in 2012, the Florida Marlins are poised to begin a new chapter in their short but illustrious history. While the 2011 season was set to be a year full of promise, the young Marlins could not live up to the weight of their own early season expectations and squandered the chance to be in the Wildcard chase with a historically bad month of June.In retrospect, it's obvious that while the team has some legitimately talented pieces in Gaby Sanchez, Mike Stanton, Josh Johnson and Hanley Ramirez to build around, with top prospect Matt Dominguez on the way, there's still quite a few holes the franchise needs to plug before taking the next step.Here's a few folks who should probably be thrown overboard if the Miami faithful wants to see their boys bring home a third World ...

We've all seen it by now.The horrific, rainbow, prism-like logo that will be donned on the Miami Marlins new jerseys next season.It's tough to defend a team that goes out of their way to brutally deface the game of baseball the way the Marlins have with this logo.A better question is how can they fix it?Begin Slideshow

The Florida Marlins are well-known for dealing players such as Dontrelle Willis, Miguel Cabrera, Gary Sheffield and Edgar Renteria.In fact, tracing back to 2004, the Marlins have been talking about becoming a spender once the new ballpark is constructed.Unfortunately, despite placing clauses in player contracts such as Mike Lowell, the deal was delayed and the Marlins continued to gut the roster of talent throughout the years.Surprisingly, there have been five moves during 2011 that indicate that the Marlins may finally be dedicated to build a contender for years. Begin Slideshow

In their time of need, the Florida Marlins have called on the services of an old friend to aid in their cause. In a trade with the Colorado Rockies, the Marlins reacquired super utility infielder Alfredo Amezaga to start in second base and take infielder Omar Infante's place in the lineup. Alfredo Amezaga was the original Emilio Bonifacio from 2006-2008, when he practically played every position in the infield and was also the starting center fielder in parts of three seasons. Amezaga appeared in 417 games and finished with a .259 average, eight homers, 86 RBI and 49 stolen bases. The 2009 and 2010 seasons were wasted on two knee injuries that needed extensive recovery. Now, while shortstop Hanley Ramirez and second baseman Omar Infante are recovering from injuries, Emilio Bonifacio and Alfredo Amezaga are now teaming up in the middle infield and top of the order.Their speed could keep the ...

The Marlins are clearly in a rough patch. These past few days they have been on a horrible losing streak, based mainly on the fact that they are not knocking in runs.The pitching hasn't been stellar, but it certainly hasn't been bad. Statistically the Marlins have been strong in the pitching department, but lately their woes have had a lot to do with their offense.Since their three-game sweep against the San Francisco Giants, the Marlins have gone 19-for-111 with runners in scoring position (RISP), for a .197 batting average. This offensive drought has motivated management to fire hitting coach John Mallee and replace him with former big-leaguer and ESPN analyst Eduardo Perez.The hitting coach could be a solution to this problem, but there are many other factors that are causing this drought, and one of them is the third base position.The Marlins have been in a very tough spot regarding their third base position. ...

In a matter of a couple of weeks, the Marlins have driven their winning vehicle off course and are struggling to bring it back on the road as the team is in a tailspin with eight consecutive losses that includes back to back sweeps at home. Enter knee-jerk reaction owner Jeffrey Loria, who couldn't continue watching such losses from his home plate seat near the Marlins dugout. The Marlins owner ordered the firing of hitting coach John Mallee Wednesday after a six-game skid that happened primarily because of Hanley Ramirez's absence from the lineup. Of course, many would argue that Ramirez's struggles are the main reason for Mallee's firing and the skid gave Loria the ammunition for a move. The Marlins replaced Mallee, an experienced coach, with one with no major league coaching experience—although he is a former major leaguer—in Eduardo Perez, now former analyst with ESPN's Baseball Tonight. But more to the point ...

Despite a victory from the Florida Marlins last night, the team received a loss off it when Josh Johnson was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of right shoulder inflammation.The injury is not related to the line drive hit off his forearm in his last start that came against the New York Mets, which happened to be delayed by a soggy infield caused by rain earlier that Tuesday. Johnson had not warmed up until the game was officially scheduled to be held; however, his velocity was down to 91 mph on his fastball.  Johnson was shut down last season because of back problems. It is a familiar place for Johnson, who missed parts of the 2007 and 2008 seasons after Tommy John surgery.Johnson led the NL with a 2.30 ERA last season and was tied with the Cardinals' Jaime Garcia with a 1.64 mark this season and his second with a 0.98 WHIP.This now ...

Already, the Florida Marlins are in excellent shape to make a run at the postseason for the first time since 2003. The Marlins have gotten a Cy Young worthy performance out of Josh Johnson and solid outings out of Ricky Nolasco and Anibal Sanchez, who nearly repeated his gem from 2006. Yet, they're still waiting on Chris Volstad and Javier Vazquez to follow suit. The bullpen has been tremendous, leading MLB in ERA (1.63) and BAA (.178), as of Saturday, they are one of two teams that has yet to blow a save this season (Dodgers).  The starting lineup has gotten surprises from Logan Morrison, leading the team in home runs and RBIs despite now being out for the next two to three weeks with a foot injury, Gaby Sanchez, Emilio Bonifacio and even Brett Hayes. Nevertheless, they have yet to get production from their best bats in Hanley Ramirez and Mike Stanton ...